PBLworks Member Research Interests

• Julie Carlson - Minnesota State University, Mankato. PBL as a sub-set of experiential education PBL in relation to other genres/approaches in experiential education.

• Nada Dabbagh - George Mason University. My interest lies primarily in examining problem generation and representation in PBL. For example, how do you come up with ill-structured problems and how do you represent them to students? Currently I am preparing a manuscript for a special issue that looks at the characteristics of case problems in several constructivist based constructivist models (e.g., situated learning, PBL, learning by design, goal based scenarios, cognitive flexibility hypertext). I am interested in identifying what distinguishes PBL problems from other cases or problems so we can better select and represent them. Previously my research looked at hypermedia representations of ill-structured problems and its impact on students' problem solving skills.

• Mary English - George Mason University. I am focusing on teacher implementation issues related to personal motivation and school readiness. I am also studying student self-regulated learning in PBL and effective practices for shifting to a student-centered learning environment.

• Peg Ertmer - Purdue University. There are a number of aspects being investigated: What is the impact of the professional development program on teachers' implementation of PBL in their classrooms? What is the impact of the PD program on teachers' content knowledge, related to sustainable energy? What is the impact of the PD program on teachers' confidence for implementing various components of PBL (driving question, scaffolding, alternative assessment, etc.)

• Krista Glazewski - Indiana University. Teacher transitioning, student transitioning.

• Michael Grant - University of Memphis/IJPBL. 1. how students complete projects, 2. how teachers use project-based learning, 3. what learning artifacts represent, 4. primarily qualitative methods, 5. what do students learn.

• Woei Hung - The University of North Dakota. Problem solving, problem design, curriculum design, group processing.

• David Kanter - NYSCI. Mostly about the design of project-based science learning environments that teach a core of science, how to design them, and then testing for changes in both learning and affect.

• Jean Lee - University of Indianapolis. How do mathematics teachers balance content with the context of the project for student learning to occur? What level of impact does incorporating an authentic community partner have to a PBL unit?

• Patrick Lee - New Tech Network. Quality of PBL implementation, assessments in PBL contexts, and measures of impact.

• Dale Niederhauser - Iowa State University. Learning from hypertext, learning in teams with complex ill-structured problems, learning diagnosis using cases

• Walter Parker - University of Washington. 1. Can students in a PBL-AP course perform as well or better on the AP test and better on an alternative performance assessment of deep knowledge? 2. Can students in a "rigorous" but project-based 'structures and functions' govt course develop 'civic action' capacities, or are these (the knowledge and action emphases) somehow mutually exclusive? 3. Can such a course migrate from better-resourced suburban schools to under-resourced urban schools?

• Bob Pearlman - I am not a researcher, however I am keen to help promote and develop a PBL Research agenda.

• Tony Petrosino - University of Texas at Austin. The role of design in teacher (pre service teacher) education in PBL The role of integration of curriculum in PBL Innovation and Adaptive Expertise in PBL environments.

• Jason Ravitz- The Buck Institute for Education. We provide workshop materials, PD and coaching. Interested in student outcomes in core academics (tested) as well as additional student benefits. Interested in trajectories for teacher PBL use individually and at school and district levels.

• Alison Rheingold - University of New Hampshire. I have been studying what students produce in PBL schools - both their final products and performance and how making their work public shapes student engagement. I also look at the historical development of practices at the school level. I am interested in assessment, teacher development and school-wide reform. I use qualitative methods.

• Gina Romano - University of Indianapolis. Longitudinal, quasi-experimental work: comparing both PBL and non-PBL groups to see if there is truly a difference.

• Sherman Rosenfeld - Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel). My main research agenda is to study PBL within the context of the professional development of teachers, based on a 3-tiered model of continuous professional development/CPD (the teacher as learner, the teacher as pedagogical guide for students, the teacher as innovator in the school). Key issues include: difficulties of teachers on each of these 3 levels, teachers' solutions to these difficulties, how teachers change their beliefs and practices as a result of the CPD, how to make PBL sustainable. I'm currently interested in studying at PBL in schools, specifically how principals and others support lon-term, whole-school change. Key issues include: principals as pedagogical leaders (and not only administrators) in their schools, the process of whol-school change, how to foster the sustainability of PBL in schools over time.

• Jayson Seaman - University of New Hampshire. My focus is on 2 things: student engagement in 'real world' projects and teacher transfer to practice from professional development.

• Addie Smiley - University of Indianapolis. Special Education, Multicultural Education, Equity, Teacher Education, Qualitative

• Hiller Spires - North Carolina State University. How do we scaffold complex thinking during PBL? How do we measure complex learning?

• Johannes Strobel - Purdue University. Engineering education in grade 1-8 - Learning progressions of students and teachers toward engineering - Engineering as a quadruple innovation in K-12 - Authenticity models - Cyber-enabled support for students.

• Pambos Vrasidas - Cyprus/CARDET. Our work aims in advancing education by developing and applying a model of authentic learning and design thinking based on real-world problem solving through collaborations between schools and enterprises.

• Andy Walker - Utah State University. Being brief, our work is about professional development for teachers that is built using PBL and then explicitly teaches and encourages teachers to use PBL in their classrooms. Methods have included HLM and GEE analyses.